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Publisher's Summary

A story of love, loss, and the distance between three generations of one family, this novel centres on Iris and Ruby, a grandmother and her granddaughter, as they try and make sense of their respective lives.

A beautifully written novel with deep understanding of the characters involved and of human nature. The straddling of two eras was well executed. I truly enjoyed the narration which made the story come to life!

I would not. To be honest, I only got through the first half. The characters did not draw me in emotionally. Iris's lover was distanced and lacked warmth, so that the affair did not really seem that genuine to me. The story dragged. I am not one to give up early on a book but after the first half I asked myself "do I care what happens to these characters?" The answer was "no."

What aspect of Rula Lenska’s performance would you have changed?

Her voice was good for the character of Iris, the grandmother. But it didn't fit with Ruby's character-it sounded too old and scratchy. And the way she did male voices (especially those of Egyptian characters) got on my nerves... Bad accents and somehow the men came off sounding simple-minded.

This is second time I have read this book and found it just as brilliant as the first time m made even better this time with the voice of rula lenski

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Orchard Riser

Channel Islands

8/19/11

Overall

"Shifts in time"

This audiobook got me through a week in Disneyland Paris with 2 teenagers - great to have something distracting! It was beautifully read by Rula Lenska. The story flitted very well between the two generations and made me want to escape from Paris to Cairo. The war time scenes were particularly well done and I wondered what stories my mother might tell of her own experiences at that time to her granddaughters. Well worth a listen.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

France

5/16/11

Overall

"Such a lovely story"

Well read, easy to follow, a really lovely story of age and adolescence, of endless love, of war and loss, against a background of the streets of Cairo, now and during WWII. Well worth it.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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